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There is no reason that Wifi devices can't work without internet. Most ESP32 devices don't talk to internet, but to other device on local network. Wifi doesn't really need mesh since has longer range.

I hope ESPHome is working on Matter support cause protocol that can switch between Wifi, Bluetooth, and Thread is a big advantage.

Fascinating. When I read your comment my first thought was to use something like LoRa, though perhaps broadcasting your data for miles is an antifeature.

This may be worth a read. ESP-WIFI-MESH

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32/....

ESP devices have support for sending raw wifi packets, so you can implement your own mesh protocol if you like.

They have software support for both wifi and bluetooth meshing as well.